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of +50% of TV usage during the lockdown,
and now the level is maintained higher than
in 2019 at +20%. We believe that the Covid-19
Lockdown has made many people realise
that they could now do more with the Online
Video services, for example, doing their daily
exercise watching PE Joe on YouTube in front
of the big TV screen.
SaH: We think that during the lockdown PCs
were back! It’s mainly linked to teleworkers’
activity. However, the PCs were mainly used
during the day/office hours. There has been
a rise of the time spent in front of TV screens
and game consoles as well.
Technicolor: The lockdown has caused some
changes in the usages at home:
• An increased need for bandwidth and
high-quality WiFi services as users are
working and learning from home, all at
the same time. As an example, Comcast
disclosed that traffic increased +32%
upstream and +11% downstream on their
network. The NCTA also mentioned that
early weeks of the pandemic showed
downstream peak traffic growing 20.1%
• More time spent streaming hi-quality
videos or gaming online. As an example,
in the UK the increase of watching media
represented 90 minutes more each day
at the height of the lockdown than a year
before
As a result, the connected home infrastructure
– networks and consumer premises equipment
(CPE) -- has become more critical. The biggest
challenge for NSPs is to ensure continuity of
their service. They need to make sure that
they provide not only powerful broadband
connections and but also high-quality WiFi
services within the homes.
ZTE: Apart from the APAC region, the
world has less than 30% of fibre coverage,
and the existing DSL speed can’t meet with
the rising demands from home offices. With
the development of wireless technology,
wireless broadband can offer much faster
network speed and less set-up cost and time
than traditional DSL technology, making
MBB devices ideal for home scenarios. ZTE
has been dedicated for many years to the
development of CPE/uFi core functions and
user experiences, accompanied by a significant
increase in demand for LTE-A devices, ZTE
has doubled its MBB shipment compared to
last year, demonstrating a strong demand for
wider bandwidth resulting from home offices.
Forecast: Voice assistants to overtake population by
2024
A
report from Juniper Research forecasts that consumers will interact with voice
assistants on over 8.4 billion devices by 2024; overtaking the world’s population
and growing 113% compared to the 4.2 billion devices expected to be in use by
year end 2020.
The research, Voice Assistant Market: Player Strategies, Monetisation & Market Size
2020-2024, finds that automotive voice assistants and those connected to TVs will have
the highest rate of growth, largely thanks to the ability to use voice assistants through
peripherals, rather than new hardware. However, this depends on changing consumer
behaviour; less than half of TVs capable of voice assistant functions will actually use the
function, even in years’ time.
The research notes that while several voice assistant vendors are pivoting towards
productivity and office usage, this will be a relatively small market. Less than 354m PCs
will have active voice assistants, particularly following Microsoft shifting Cortana away from
being a full voice assistant. Juniper Research recommends that voice assistant companies
targeting the PC market emphasise voice as part of a wider ecosystem of device and data
management, with more automation than consumer voice assistants.
Will smart speakers and other digital
assistants increasingly be integrated
into service provider CPE?
AirTies: We are already seeing a number of
home gateway CPE devices with integrated
digital assistants such as Alexa, but this just
meets the demands for one room in the house
where the gateway is positioned. Other devices
will also need to offer the service, not only
consumer electronics but also WiFi extenders
in a point to point or Meshed environment.
CommScope: Yes. We see the rise of far-field
voice driven assistants in the set-top box (now
evolving into smart media devices) for rooms
with large screens and the addition of audioonly
smart assistants in other rooms. These
three things are important for the service
provider to play here:
• Add their own unique ‘wake word’ and
skills for their services
• Leverage other assistants in the same
device
• Focus on privacy in these solutions as
they are controlled by the service provider,
not the assistant cloud provider
Netgem: Voice control will continue to
develop as a key enabler of various services
in the home. We invested very early in ‘Voice
control for TV’ by launching one of the first
service-controlled via a native Alexa Skill
across EETV, and Netgem TV in the UK.
We continue to enhance the Voice control
commands, with for example the recent
addition of the ‘Most popular shows’.
SaH: This is definitely something we are
actively working on with our clients. Our
software is integrated in Orange’s Djingo Mini
and DT’s HALLO Magenta Mini. The Remote
Control of Orange is also powered to enable
voice recognition. We have strong requests
from operators for future STBs to integrate
voice assistants. It actually makes more sense
to have it on the STB rather than on the Home
Gateway as the STB is a media device and
controls audio outputs.
Technicolor: A growing number of operators
are now interested in voice-enabled services
and many have announced the launch of
a voice remote control, leveraging Google
Assistant in the Android TV world. To grasp
the full potential of voice-enabled services and
devices, NSPs are more and more looking to
integrate a far-field voice control feature to
their CPE. This is critical today as it enables
service providers to deliver the most engaging
user experience by providing hands-free
search and content discovery possibilities as
well as enriched Smart Home functionality.
However, providing subscribers with a
high-quality experience, getting best-possible
voice interaction and service performance
requires a complex integration entailing
numerous technical challenges. Voice
enabled devices are not all equal in terms of
quality. Furthermore, design and execution
of implementation are determining factors
of experience satisfaction. Working with
technology partners in possession of the
required knowledge, skills and experience is
critical.
The combined expertise and established
track record of Technicolor and its partner
3SS in this important emerging area. Both
companies have grown their combined knowhow
in hardware and software over time
to propose significant added value for both
providers and their subscribers.
ZTE: At the moment, most service provider
CPE still functions as a network throughput
channel, but with the evolution of the relevant
ecological chain, the market will see a much
more diversified trend. Service providers will
strive for more differentiated services such as
video, voice and smart home services.
What role can service provider CPE
play in monetising the home and/or
cutting churn: targeted advertising? IoT
management?
AirTies: Service providers recognise the
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